Silicon carbide-carbon-carbon (SiC-C/C) composites are an advanced class of materials typically used for aerospace and performance braking applications. Such composites exhibit increased resistance to wear and oxidation over alternatives. SiC-C/C is typically synthesized using chemical vapor infiltration, liquid silicon infiltration, or pyrolysis techniques, which require long treatment at high temperatures in order to form the composite material.
Such known methods for synthesizing SiC-C/C composites require long term (hours) high temperature materials treatment. In addition, under such conditions, the characteristic time of liquid silicon infiltration into the carbon porous skeleton is typically longer than the characteristic time of reaction between the melt and carbon material. As a result, pores on the sample periphery rapidly close, while the central part of the sample remains porous. Thus, the synthesized material exhibits a non-uniform microstructure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,173 B1 describes an invention based, in part, on the recognition that treating a SiC-coated carbon-carbon composite with a phosphoric acid-based retardant solution significantly improves oxidative resistance at the higher end of the typical operating temperature range and in the presence of high concentration of known oxidation catalysts.